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F3 tornado in Bell County, Texas

Tornado May 27, 1997 · Bell County, Texas

Rating

1.4 mi

Path length

275 yd

Path width

$900K

Damage as recorded

EF0EF1EF2EF3EF4EF5Unrated

The path drawn at its surveyed width of 275 yards (0.16 mi) — zoom in and the swath grows to true scale. Other tornadoes recorded nearby that day are shown faint.

What F3 means. This tornado was rated on Fujita’s original scale, used until 2007. F3 meant severe damage: whole stories of well-built houses destroyed, large buildings badly damaged, trains overturned; the scale paired it with winds of 158–206 mph, figures later judged too high, especially toward the top of the scale, and revised downward in the Enhanced Fujita scale. Ratings then, as now, came from the damage.

What the National Weather Service wrote

The fourth tornado that was produced by the large supercell thunderstorm developed on the north side of Lake Belton, near Morgans Point where a marina was destroyed. Over 100 boats at the marina were destroyed by the strong tornado that moved slowly south-southwest. Ten homes along the lakeshore also sustained severe damage and damage to trees was nearly total. The tornado dissipated just northeast of Woodland.

Began near Belton (31.1700, -97.4700).

Other tornadoes from the same storm system

3 more tornadoes the National Weather Service filed under this storm episode.

F2 Bell County F1 Bell County F0 Bell County

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event 5597314. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.

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